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Garth Ennis
Garth Ennis (b. 16 January 1970) is a comics writer from Holywood, County Down, best known for his Vertigo series Preacher, and his revival of Marvel's Punisher, both with English artist Steve Dillon. His work is characterised by violence, black humour, disdain for organised religion, and male friendship under fire. Early work At school he experimented with violent, blackly-humorous comics with his strip Sith Ifrica, which he shared among friends. In 1989 he dropped out of Queen's University, Belfast, to create Troubled Souls, with Belfast artist John McCrea, for Fleetway's political comic anthology Crisis. The series examined the Northern Irish "Troubles" through the eyes of a young protestant coerced into planting a bomb for the IRA. He followed it with True Faith, a satire of Christianity and class inspired by his schooldays, with English artist Warren Pleece, and For a Few Troubles More, with McCrea, a broad Belfast-based comedy featuring two supporting characters from Troubled Souls, Dougie and Ivor (who would later get their own American series, Dicks). All three series were collected as graphic novels by Fleetway, but True Faith was withdrawn from sale, apparently on the orders of then-Fleetway owner Robert Maxwell, after protests from religious groups. It was later republished by Vertigo. For Crisis' "big sister" publication 2000AD, he wrote World War II/time travel comedy Time Flies, drawn by Philip Bond, and was the main writer on Judge Dredd for a few years. His run included "Emerald Isle", drawn by Steve Dillon, which brought Dredd to a future Ireland which had become an enormous theme park for American tourists. DC Comics In 1991 he broke into American comics, taking over Vertigo's long-running series Hellblazer, featuring the working class occultist John Constantine, created by Alan Moore. His run was initially drawn by Belfast artist William Simpson, later by Dillon, and gave Constantine a girlfriend from Belfast, Kit Ryan, which allowed him to include stories set in Northern Ireland. After their run on Hellblazer ended, Ennis and Dillon revisited Kit in Heartland, a one-shot set entirely in Belfast, in which Constantine did not appear. Ennis returned to Hellblazer several years later with a five part story called "Son of Man", drawn by John Higgins. In 1993 he and McCrea took over DC's The Demon, created by Jack Kirby, introducing a darker edge to the title's humour. As part of the "Bloodlines" crossover event, they created the character Hitman in a Demon annual. Irish-American contract killer Tommy Monaghan gained x-ray vision and telepathy from his contact with aliens, and appeared as a supporting character in several Demon storylines. After The Demon was cancelled, Ennis and McCrea gave Hitman his own series, influenced by the films of Clint Eastwood and John Woo, mixed with surreal and often silly humour, which ran for 60 issues. In 1995, having established their creative partnership on Hellblazer, Ennis and Dillon created Preacher, a post-modern contemporary western influenced by the films of John Wayne and Quentin Tarantino. Jesse Custer, a disillusioned Texan minister, is possessed by an entity called Genesis, the offspring of an angel and a demon, giving him a voice that compels obedience. Along with his former girlfriend Tulip O'Hare and an Irish vampire called Cassidy, he dedicates himself to finding God and holding him to account for abandoning his creation. The series also features the Saint of Killers, a former western gunslinger who killed the Devil and now acts as the angel of death, Herr Starr, agent of the Grail, an organisation which protects the secret bloodline of Christ, who is subjected to humilation after violent humiliation, and Arseface, a naive young man who once attempted suicide by shooting himself in the face. Other comic projects Ennis wrote during this time period include Goddess, Bloody Mary, The Unknown Soldier, Pride & Joy, all for DC/Vertigo, as well as origin stories for The Darkness for Image Comics and Shadowman for Valiant Comics. Recent work After finishing his DC work, Ennis moved to Marvel to work on their vigilante character the Punisher, with Dillon and other artists. He also wrote Nick Fury, Thor, and a number of other characters for Marvel, and a number of Authority spin-offs featuring his character Kev Hawkins, a disaster-prone former SAS man, for Wildstorm. He indulged his love for war comics with War Story, a series of one-off war stories drawn by various artists, for Vertigo. In 2006 he launched a new ongoing series, The Boys, with artist Darick Robertson, ablackly-humorous series featuring a team of government agents who control, and, if necessary, eliminate superheroes. It was initially published by Wildstorm, was cancelled after six issues, but continued with Dynamite Entertainment. Other comics Ennis has written include The Pro for Image Comics; The Authority for Wildstorm; Just a Pilgrim for Black Bull Press; the geopolitical thriller 303, apocalyptic comedy Chronicles of Wormwood, a western series, Streets of Glory, and the zombie series Crossed, for Avatar Press; and Seven Brothers, co-created by John Woo, and a revival of Dan Dare for Virgin Comics. In 2008 he wrote War is Hell: the First Flight of the Phantom Eagle, a WWI aviation series for Marvel drawn by Howard Chaykin, and launched Battlefields, a series of war miniseries, with Dynamite Entertainment. He also co-wrote the crime miniseries Back to Brooklyn with Jimmy Palmiotti, illustrated by Mihailio Vukelic. External links *2000AD Profile Online reference *Wikipedia: Garth Ennis, Garth Ennis bibliography, Comics by Garth Ennis category, Characters created by Garth Ennis category *DC Database *Marvel Database *Image Database *Wookieepedia *ComicVine *Grand Comic-Book Database Category:Creators E Category:Comics writers Category:County Down creators Category:Creators based in the USA Category:British comics Category:Creators in American comics Category:2000AD Category:Crisis Category:DC Comics Category:Caliber Comics Category:Avatar Press Category:Marvel Comics Category:Dynamite Entertainment Category:Image Comics Category:Queen's University of Belfast